1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to card package production and mailing systems and methods to automatically produce card packages composed of cards, such as credit cards, attached to matching carrier forms for mailing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Card package production systems that produce card packages comprised of cards, such as plastic credit or debit cards, to matching paper carriers that bear printed information including the card owner's name and address in a location for viewing through a window envelope into which the carrier packages may be ultimately inserted, or “stuffed”, for mailing to the owner.
Examples of such card package production systems in which the cards are mechanically attached to the carriers are shown in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/081,312, filed May 19, 1998, of Bretl et al. and entitled “Card Package Production System with a Multireader Card Track and Method”, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,544 issued Feb. 27, 1996 to Hill et al. and entitled “Automatic Verified Embossed Card Package Production Methods”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,395 issued Jul. 30, 1996 to Hill et al. and entitled “Card Package Production System with Burster and Code Reader”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,815 issued Feb. 14, 1995 to Hill et al. and entitled, “Embossed Card Package Production System with Modular Inserters for Multiple Forms”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,886 issued Apr. 23, 1996 to Hill et al. for “Card Package Production System with Modular Carrier Folding Apparatus for Multiple Forms”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,364 issued Jul. 18, 1995 to Hill et al. for “Card Package Production System with Burster and Carrier Verification Apparatus”, all assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and all of which together with the references cited therein are hereby incorporated by reference.
In the card package production systems, or card mailers of patent applications noted above of which this application is a continuation-in-part, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference. In those related applications, a mailer is shown in which cards are attached to carrier forms that are then folded twice in what is know as a Z-fold in which the card is attached to a center section with one of two end sections folded over the side of the center section holding the card and the other of the two end sections folded over the side of the center section located opposite the card.
While this known mechanism for performing the folding of the carrier forms operates well for making Z-folds it lacked the flexibility needed in the modern card industry in which some card issuers prefer to have the carriers folded in so-called C-fold, or Bi-fold configuration or to not have the carrier form folded at all.